Introduction
The Qlocom Wi-Fi Range Extender Booster N300-B-RN1 isn’t intended for hardcore gamers or video streaming addicts. It’s more suitable for low-bandwidth jobs, such as extending network coverage for a smart speaker or an appliance in the bedroom or garage. That means it doesn’t need top-tier wireless hardware. While most modern devices support Wi-Fi 6 or 6E, Qlocom’s extender uses the much older Wi-Fi 4 standard – also known as 802.11n. It’ll still work with the latest laptops and phones, but it only operates on the 2.4GHz radio band, with a maximum connection speed of 300Mbits/sec.
Design and Features
Compact casing, with no wired connectionManagement portal is ugly but usable
The Qlocom Wi-Fi Range Extender Booster N300-B-RN1 is one of the smallest extenders I’ve tested, measuring just 49mm across – so it shouldn’t obstruct access to any nearby plug sockets. At the side, there’s a WPS button and an on/off switch. On the front, you’ll find three LEDs showing your connection, WPS and power status. There are no other controls or Ethernet sockets – it’s wireless or nothing. You can get set up very quickly by simply pushing the Qlocom’s WPS button, then doing the same on your router. This tells the extender to duplicate the network name and password from your main Wi-Fi network, allowing devices to connect without any further configuration. Alternatively, you can log into the rather garish management portal and enter your network settings manually. However, I found that this prompted the extender to create its own subnet, rather than join the existing network. Connected clients still got internet access, but they couldn’t communicate with devices connected directly to the router. The management dashboard also offers a few custom security options, which you can use to prevent specific devices from connecting or block certain websites. Unexpectedly, there’s support for dynamic DNS too, for easy access to the web dashboard over the internet.
Performance
Can extend and accelerate a 2.4GHz networkA direct 5GHz connection works better in most cases
In my tests, I found that pairing the Qlocom extender with my D-Link R15 Eagle Pro AI router gave me a stronger, faster 2.4GHz signal all around my home. In the bathroom, download rates were raised from 20Mbits/sec to 27Mbits/sec, while the bedroom went from 19Mbits/sec to 26Mbits/sec. However, this isn’t a huge lift – and the boosted speeds are still low, compared with what I’m used to seeing over a 5GHz connection. In fact, I did just as well when I ditched the extender and connected directly to the router’s 5GHz network. This gave me practically identical download speeds in the bathroom and bedroom. And in the kitchen and living room, where I had measured average download rates of 18Mbits/sec and 17Mbits/sec from the Qlocom extender, speeds shot up to 44Mbits/sec and 122Mbits/sec, respectively. This does raise the question of why anyone would choose to use the 2.4GHz band. The short answer is that some smart home devices require it, and its lower-frequency radio waves have slightly better reach and penetration.
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Sustainability
TrustedReviews holds the fact that global warming is not a myth as a core value and will continuously endeavour to help protect our planet from harm in its business practices. Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy. As part of this mission, whenever we review a product, we send the company a series of questions to help us gauge and make transparent the impact the device has on the environment. We currently haven’t received answers to the questions on this product, but we will update this page the moment we do. You can see a detailed breakdown of the questions we ask and why in our sustainability info page.
